General: Animus is Online

www.myspace.com/animusoz

Apollo Point: The Three

From Travis J. Annabel, author of Echoes of Absicon comes a trilogy of short stories from the universe of Apollo Point...

Exclusive to visitors of Immortal Vagrant: Travis' Stories comes the trilogy The Three: Enigma Grey, Anima Ku and Zen

Visit http://www.travisannabelsthethree.blogspot.com or click on the logo above.

General - Long overdue update...

Hi all,

Firstly, my apologies for the lack of updates over the last few months. I've started a new job which involves all night shifts, so it has taken me a while to get into this new routine. Unfortunantly, my writing has suffered because of this. I'm beginning to get back into the swing of things however, so hopefully there will be some progress from now on. I've been slowly doing a bit of work on both the Apollo Point and Absiscon universes, and I'm happy with the direction in which they are headed.

In the Absicon Universe, I'm still plugging along with Echoes Of Absicon, although not as quickly as I'd like. I've also only done a bit more work on the short story, The War Of Babylon which I had hoped to have well and trully finished by now. Oh, well. The good news is, I've decided to establish Echoes Of Absicon as the first book of a trilogy. The following two books will be titled Shadows Of Basilia, and Demons Of Celestine and will focus on the continuing destiny of the Immortal Vagrant and it's crew. The two new names aren't final, but I'm happy with them at the moment. I've written out basic plot ideas for the following two books, and I'm quite excited with the direction this series is shaping up to take.

I've also done a bit of plot line work on the Apollo Point series, and am proud to announce that shortly, a trilogy of short stories will be appearing, exclusive to this blog. The trilogy is titled The Three, and the individual story titles are Enigma Grey, Anima Ku and Zen respectively. These are the names of three integral characters in the Apollo Point series.

Well, that's it for now. Keep an eye out for not-too-distant future updates!

Oh, and welcome home Chris! www.chrisinjapan.blogspot.com

See you all later.

General: The difference between art and reality...

I keep reading in the news about people who are trying to sue author Dan Brown for his work "The Da Vinci Code", saying that they have already made the claims he makes in his best-selling novel. Thank god sanity has prevailed, and all the lawsuits have been thrown out. The fact of the matter is that "The Da Vinci Code" is a work of fiction.

These people (who may have legitimately published work about the claims made in the novel) have to realise one thing - their works are based on reality, and Browns work is fiction. There is a distinct difference.

I'm also sick of all these people who are willing to take everything that is said in "The Da Vinci Code" as reality (Yeah, you know who you are). Once again, people its FICTION. You may be suprised to learn this, but the book actually sits in the FICTION section of your local library or book store, not the section labeled Theology.

I'm also sick of the catholic church who have condemned this novel so fiercly. They claim its anti-christian... Well Dan Brown posted a message responding to this by saying "Its not anti-anything. Its fiction." See people, strait out of the horses mouth: FICTION.

I congratulate Dan Brown on his success on this novel (even If I think its slightly over-rated) and hope that If I ever write a successful novel I won't have to go through as much crap as he has had to. It seems that every leech in town wants to make a buck of this mans success.

There is a distinct line between art and reality - don't confuse them.

General: The Insanity Continues...

Well, Mark and his mates have certainly caused a stir. The legitimate bids are up to 69,000 (I say legitimate because overnite a few nastys placed fake bids of up to 16,000,000). They are appearing in papers across the world, as well as making the TV news in Australia and various other countries. Tomorrow morning at 8am (AEST) Mark and co. will be appearing on the Today show on channel nine, and then A Current Affair on the same channel, same day at 6.30pm (AEST).

The follwing list is a list I've compiled of all the Newspapers, Websites, TV shows and radio stations they've been reported on (at least the ones I know about):

Newspapers
The Sydney morning Herald
The Daily Telegraph
The Age
The Sunday Times
The Australian
The Blue Mountains Gazette
Reuters
The Courier Mail (Brisbane)
The Advertiser (Adelaide)
Melbourne Herald Sun (Melbourne)
Independent Online (South Africa)
Irish Examiner (Ireland)
Evening Echo (Ireland)
Spiegel (Germany)
Reuters India (India)
Sify (India)
Brocktown News (USA)
Ely Times (USA)
Oberlin (Kansas, USA)
The Kindred Times (Utah, USA)
Jackson News-Tribune (Wyoming, USA)
Herald Daily News (North Dakota, USA)

Web News Services
Seven.com.au (Web)
Ninemsn.com.au (Web)
Breakingnews.ie (Web, Ireland)
Reuters.uk (Web, UK)
Leading the Charge (Web)
Ireland Online (Web, Ireland)
News.com.au (Web)
Google news (Web)

Radio Stations
Vega FM (Sydney) – Interview with Mark
Nova 96.9 (Sydney)
Triple M (Sydney)
2Day Fm (Sydney)

Television
Today Show (Ch9 Sydney)
A Current Affair (Ch9 Sydney)
Channel Nine News (Darwin)

Unconfirmed Reports
TV/Radio in Canada/USA
Radio in UK
Newspapers in UK

Yep, big list. Go blokies!! I heard Mark on his Vega FM interview as well. Very funny.

Coming Soon: Stuff that has anything to do with this blog!

General: A Weekend with 4 Blokes in Sydney...

Alright, if you havent already heard, there is an auction on ebay for "A weekend with 4 Blokes in Sydney". Basically, they're auctioning themselves off as someone's best friend for a weekend. I know this, because one of the four blokes, Mark, is a close friend. (Second from the left, eyes shut)

Now it was all going well - they'd had bids up to A$195, but then ebay closed it down, because it was "out of the ordinary". That's when the Sydney Morning Herald got hold of the story. After numerous complaints, ebay restarted the auction.

Since then, news articles have appeared in papers across Australia, and even internationally. The list includes the news papers Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph, The Age, The Brisbane Courier Mail, The Sunday Times, The Blue Mountains Gazette and a german newspaper called Spiegel. Some radio stations have run the story as well, and these include sydney stations Nova 96.9 and Vega FM. The guys have also had calls from magazines and television stations wanting interviews.

Now here's the hilarious part: as a result of the media frenzy, the bids have now reached upwards of A$12,000!!!!, and the auction's not even halfway through yet. It's so out of control now, that it looks as though the guys may make as much as A$30,000 just for spending a weekend with some (many names come to mind) individual. It may reach higher if they manage to score TV interviews, which it looks as though they will. Early signs are even indicating that the whole weekend will be covered by a radio station, and perhaps even have corporate sponsorship.

A simple plan that has paid off for Mark and his room mates. Good on ya fellas. Milk it for all it's worth.

You can visit the ebay auction site here.

You can see a SMH article here.

Absicon Universe: QLS Second Draft

Hello everyone,

I've just completed the second draft of Queen Lucrecia's Shadow. I won't post it on the blog, but If you want a copy just e-mail me at travisannabelauthor@hotmail.com.

See you round